YEREVAN, October 13. /ARKA/. ARKA news agency has released a media rating of Armenia-based banks for the third quarter of 2016. The rating is topped by the banks, which were most active in conveying their activities to the public at large. The media rating of the banks has been compiled by ARKA since 2010. According to the media rating, information signals by banks in the third quarter of 2016 decreased by 26.5% when compared to the same period of 2015. In particular, the overall index (OI)), which characterizes the amount of information depending on its direction, in  the third  quarter of 2016 fell to 825.29 from 1,122.9 in the third quarter of 2015. The top five banks were VTB Bank (Armenia), Araratbank, Unibank, Armeconombank and Ameriabank.

VTB Bank (Armenia)

In the third quarter of 2016 VTB Bank (Armenia) was quite active in informing the public at large about all its new services, advantages and promotion campaigns. In particular, together with ROSGOSSTRAKH ARMENIA insurance company the bank  launched a new credit for purchase of CASCO and mandatory insurance of vehicles. Together with TelCell the bank launched a comfortable way of sending and receiving remittances. With Beeline telecom operator it issued a new co-branded card to speed up and simplify the process of obtaining credit lines and also unveiled a new service allowing to send remittances by Unistream system round the clock through the bank's website. The main event, which effected the bank’s media reputation was a press conference by Mikhail Zadornov, the chairman of  Board of VTB 24 bank, the parent bank of the Yerevan-based VTB Bank (Armenia), who said the latter is in the process of forming a new three-year strategy, the main focus in  which will be placed on the retail business.

Araratbank

The main news about this bank was the placement of the 12th issue of its coupon bonds worth AMD 400 million. Also, the bank said that the share of its non-performing loans was 2%, much lower than across the banking system of Armenia. In July, the bank listed at NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange the eleventh issue of its bonds to the tune of $1 million. In August the bonds of the 12th issue worth 400 million drams were also listed at the stock exchange. It also emerged that the German Commerzbank awarded Araratbank the Excellence Quality prize for providing high quality SWIFT-transfers. In September Araratbank said it increased its share capital by 8.5 billion drams to 31.7 billion drams.

Unibank

In the third quarter Unibank unveiled a new campaign called ‘You spend, we give the money’ designed for its cardholders. In late July, Unibank completed the placement of the third issue of its shares. Also, the bank switched to PROtoCRM system, developed by Protobase Laboratories. The bank completed a comprehensive project creating a modern and resilient mobile data center, based on a comprehensive solution by Huawei. In September, the rating agency Moody's Investors Service confirmed the rating of long-term deposits at Unibank in AMD and foreign currency at B3 level, changing the outlook to "positive". Unibank jointly with the German-Armenian Fund (GAF) and the German bank KfW launched a new program of business lending aimed at improving the energy efficiency of enterprises.

Armeconombank

In early August the bank reported that its regulatory capital, after the merger with BTA Bank, will be 27 billion drams. Also in the third quarter ordinary registered shares of the additional issue of Armeconombank were listed at NASDAQ OMX Armenia being incorporated into the secondary exchange list (B).

Ameriabank

In third quarter the bank said its bonds worth $15 million were listed at NASDAQ OMX ARMENIA. It was also reported that the international rating agency Fitch Ratings  assigned the bank’s senior unsecured bonds with  a fixed rate worth $ 15 million the final long-term rating "B +" and a Recovery Rating "RR4". In July, Ameriabank was awarded the "Excellence 2016" prize by Euromoney magazine as the best bank of the year in Armenia. In August the German Commerzbank awarded it STP Award 2015 prize in the category "Excellence Quality" for international transactions. ($ 1 - 475.34 drams). -0-